Raid!
Everything was too sudden and too unexpected, just like a heavy rain in the midsummer afternoon, without any sign. The sun was shining brightly one second, and it was raining heavily the next. The unreasonable downpour poured down on everyone, and then, southeast The northwest was completely in chaos.
This is what Istomin is like at this moment.
It couldn't be more ordinary, but the situation changed in an instant, and before I had time to react, I was already involved in the storm.
shock! Panic!
In a hurry, Istomin had no time to think, and his vision was a little too busy. He didn't know whether to watch tennis or Gawain. The entire stadium was shrinking rapidly, and there was no gap in his field of vision.
But, there is no time——
In fact, the quality of Gao Wen's return is average. The rebound shot from the baseline is high and floating in order to ensure that it passes the net smoothly. When it comes to Istomin's side, it has no spin, power and speed.
Normally, this would be Istomin's opportunity.
However, it was different now. Istomin needed to process too much information at the same time. When his attention returned to the tennis ball, he realized that the tennis ball without power attached had a very low bounce and was falling rapidly. He had to hit the ball. , otherwise it will take two jumps, but what should we do?
There are so many thoughts in my mind that I have no way to think, no way at all.
"Well!"
With a groan, Istomin had already completed a low shot with a two-handed backhand. The hitting point was too low, basically below the knees, and there was no room to swing the ball. He had to pull up the return ball.
--straight line.
Subconsciously, Istomin still tried to break the net, but as soon as the stroke was completed, he felt annoyed. Gawain obviously lacked touch on the backhand position, and as a result, he chose a straight line.
Damn it!
However, there was no time for even regret, and Istomin was already desperate.
In his sight, Gawain took a sideways step, his arms stretched out and his body light.
One stop.
One buckle.
Comparable to the block smash in volleyball, the forehand wrist force instantly smashes inward.
boom.
boom!
A crisp hitting sound and a loud landing sound.
Slash, gap...score!
"ah!"
Gawain quickly stuffed the racket into his left hand, clenched his right hand into a fist and jumped high, his light and elegant posture was like the Pegasus Meteor Fist.
Energy is released in a short and turbulent manner——
boom!
The whole place exploded.
You can clearly see Gawain's leaping figure causing the entire audience to stand up. They were so stunned that they couldn't think at all. They were so deep in it that they couldn't extricate themselves. Adrenaline instantly detonated, and the whole audience roared with tsunami.
This time, Sampras put his hands across his chest, looking like he was sitting firmly on the mountain. You can feel the pride from the inside out from his eyes and posture.
Everyone else in the player's box had already stood up, including Peart -
"0:30".
It can be seen from the score that in this game, Gao Wen keenly captured the opportunity and scored consecutively. This may be the turning point of the fourth set.
Agassi noticed Sampras's calmness, the corners of his mouth slightly raised, and his eyes showed a hint of playfulness, but he did not expose his old friend.
In 2022, if you ask young players or young viewers, they may say, isn’t this Federer’s stunt?
Moreover, there is also a formal official name, "SABR", which literally translates to "Sly Attack from Roger".
As you can tell from the name, this is a tactic exclusively for Federer.
This tactic first appeared in Federer's match against Djokovic. When his opponent was serving, Federer suddenly cut to the baseline, grabbed a return serve by cutting or rebounding, and then followed the ball to the net and passed the net. The pressure to score this point was a sneak attack.
However, "SABR" cannot be used frequently because men's players serve very fast. After entering the baseline, they often do not have enough reaction space and time. Instead, they may shoot themselves in the foot. Even players with excellent handles such as Federer often do this. There were outrageous mistakes.
"SABR" was very entertaining, and was later widely spread on social networks in the form of animated pictures or short videos.
In fact, this tactic is not original to Federer. As early as half a century ago, during the heyday of serving and netting, some players had tried it.
Unfortunately, at that time, because the racket was still made of wood, it could not withstand too much force, otherwise the accuracy of the shot would be reduced, so the success rate was not high.
Until the 1990s, Sampras became the master of serving and netting style and wrote countless history. This tactic was also his trump card.
Gawain's tactics came from Sampras.
With the same set of tactics, the biggest difference between Sampras and Federer is their stance.
Federer is attacking by sneak attack. His position will not only enter the baseline, but also ride the wind and waves all the way to the baseline of the service area. This is equivalent to using his body to create physical pressure and causing interference before receiving the serve. This is the same as the underhand serve. Breaking the rules but sparking controversy.
To be precise, the rules do not stipulate the position of players receiving the serve. Therefore, in amateur competitions, you can often see some people choose to stand in the service area and deliberately put pressure on their opponents in this way, but it is basically equivalent to playing rogue; facing In such a situation, the serving side only needs to choose to serve hard and hit it directly without hesitation to break it.
The same is true for the core of "SABR" tactics, which is to disrupt the opponent's rhythm through sneak attacks. Therefore, pressing forward is the core key of the tactics. As for the subsequent series of actions, including cutting and receiving the serve and hitting the net, they are just a continuation of the action.
Sampras is confrontational. His position often does not enter the baseline, but stands on the baseline. It is somewhat similar to the rising point strategy of grabbing the serve. He snatches the serve back as soon as possible, but does not care about the quality of the return. Really The focus is on the follow-up, that is, serving and hitting the net, and deciding the outcome through a duel in front of the net.
In short, the real core is to go to the net. The previous actions and the subsequent actions are all paving the way for your own net. This is the style of play of the iconic serve-and-net player, because the net needs to be fast and compress the opponent's return ball as much as possible. There is space in the net, so players serve in advance and shorten the step-up distance.
There is a clear difference between the two in terms of tactical intentions.
Since the offseason, Sampras has been cultivating and polishing Gauvin's net skills, and has continued to trial and error and adjust throughout the Australian Open and French Open. The ultimate goal is to enrich Gauvin's arsenal on grass courts. It becomes the winning weapon to break the stalemate balance at critical moments.
In addition, this set of tactics has another advantage: saving physical energy.
When your physical strength is extremely high or your condition is poor, it is a good idea to change the rhythm of the game by serving and hitting the net to gain breathing space for yourself.
Sampras was satisfied not only because of Gawain's excellent execution, but also because of Gawain's timing, which broke the balance without warning.
Everything is just right——
The next point was a lot of pressure for Istomin.
Some people died, but not completely...
